Virtual Vice by Jason Kays -- Book Review

Explosive and edgy, Virtual Vice by Jason M. Kays takes the reader on a journey into the bowels of the murky and deadly dark side of Internet venture capitalism.

Attorney Ian McKenzie's life takes a decided turn when he is introduced to the charismatic, but dangerous, Scott White. Hired by White to represent his interests in Metropoleis Media, a cutting edge Internet startup, Ian is soon drawn into the personal trials and tribulations of White's life. Leaving a trail of violence and abuse wherever he has been, White's quick descent into paranoia and mental illness finds Ian searching for a way out and a way to collect the ever mounting outstanding attorney fees that White owes him. Caught in the middle of the Feds, La Cosa Nostra and the Cali Cartel, Ian is trapped in a fatal game of corporate winner-take-all. How will he ever extract himself? And at what cost?

If you like wild rides, Virtual Vice is for you. Beginning with Ian McKenzie discovering his client naked and teetering on the edge of the veranda outside his hotel room, you're certain from the get go that this is no ordinary story.

Soon after meeting Ian, Scott White and some of his abnormal associates, the reader journeys through part of White's past and how Ian met and came to be hired by White before the book moves through in a mostly chronological format.

The author's love of music and his experience as an intellectual property attorney in information technology and entertainment law are clear from the onset, and it is his well-developed, complex characters that readers will appreciate the most. White's total deterioration that garners him some unwanted attention from past associates, Clarice Westwater's greed and ability to manipulate and Pastor Petey's feigned piousness, come alive within the pages of this book.

Virtual Vice gives a glimpse not only into the world of Internet venture capitalism, but also the music industry and Ponzi schemes, as White's long history of bilking investors and running across state lines is outlined.

Based upon true events, Virtual Vice is considered creative non-fiction, and therefore, the narrative carries the bulk of the story. This made it a little hard to get into at first. I am so glad I stuck with it, though, because the storyline is not only timely, it is riveting once it gets going and you'll find yourself turning page after page up to the explosive and satisfying conclusion.

A timely, attention grabbing story is what you'll find in Virtual Vice by Jason M. Kays.


Title: Virtual Vice
Author: Jason M. Kays
Publisher: BookSurge
ISBN-10: 1-4392-0131-5
ISBN-13: 9781439201312
SRP: $23.99 (U.S.)

Venture Capitalism in the Dot Com Boom Years by Jason Kays, Author of Virtual Vice

Today's guest blogger is Jason Kays, author of the new technology crime thriller Virtual Vice. Jason M. Kays is an intellectual property attorney with fifteen years experience in both information technology and entertainment law. Kays is an accomplished jazz trumpet player and his passion has always been music, technology, and convergence of the two in today's digital age. This is his first novel.

You can visit Jason online at www.virtualvice.net

Venture Capitalism in the Dot Com Boom Years
by Jason Kays

Virtual Vice is set, in part, during the Dot Com boom and bust years. During the mid-1990's, San Jose, Seattle, Cambridge and Dallas comprised the nation's top tech centers. Growth in the economy's Information Technology sector had largely driven the record numbers seen on Wall Street -- both on the Dow Jones and NASDAQ. This honeymoon period between the financial markets and innovators, while short lived at five years, was marked with unprecedented growth and investor returns. There was a Wild West, gold rush mentality behind much of the haphazard, impromptu pairing of venture capitalists, angel investors and product developers. The rush to queue up for the newfound VC largess resulted in a temerarious abridgement of the checks and balances typically integral to bringing new hardware or software to market. Often times outside engineers were not called upon to audit work. Accountants and transactional attorneys were not involved as extensively in the drafting and review of business plans -- if there was a business plan.

This resulted in the syndrome coined, "cocktail napkin to boardroom mentality", whereby a widget concept loosely fleshed out over pints at the corner bar was signed off on in a boardroom meeting of decision makers the following week, foregoing the vetting process to assess product, demand or market plan viability. The absence of traditional checks and balances attracted every manner of confidence man to the New Economy. Ponzi schemes and opportunists had free reign. It was the 21rst Century equivalent of the traveling snake oil salesman, but here charlatans permeated every facet of the industry, from product development to IPO's and the infamous penny stocks that landed the amoral financial genius Michael Milken in prison.

If the con man was one who had the unique social skills to speak both the language of the developer and the financier, he was positioned to do an inordinate amount of damage. Most engineers attempt to distance themselves from the "suits" and business end of the enterprise, just as most VC's rely on consultants for product analysis and IP valuation. VC's aren't particularly interested in what transpires in think tanks or the lab, so long as the finished product bears resemblance to the one sketched out over that pint.

It was within this climate of arrogance, recklessness, amoral antics, profiteering and outright thievery that the real life counterpart of Virtual Vice's protagonist and Metropoleis III Multimedia CEO, Scott White, amassed a money and power base. Just as portrayed in the book, the real life figure came from a prominent East Coast publishing family. A sociopath, his birthright's path to prominence involved more time and effort than he was willing to dedicate, so he turned to the lucrative trafficking of uncut cocaine procured directly from Colombia. When the DEA moved in, he evaded apprehension and laundered the drug money through his Seattle IT startup, Millennium III Multimedia Corp. Surrounding himself with a talented and legitimate team of technologists, the CEO built up a successful business. Old habits took hold, though, and soon he was embezzling from his own shareholders. When he was caught and pursued by victimized investors, he fled Washington for Arizona where he mounted a similar Ponzi scheme. In the novel a measure of justice is served up, but in real life this same individual continues to defraud investors to this day, presently operating in Huntington Beach, California. Greed is one constant in human nature. So long as that is the case, there will always be opportunists like Scott White to exploit that human condition.

You can purchase Virtual Vice at Amazon.com. For more places you can purchase this book, visit Jason's website.

Watch the Virtual Vice trailer!